Dragon the Chain
by Shax
Summary: Lizard with an esteem problem unintentionally wreaks havoc.


DRAGON THE CHAIN 

Series 2 - The Three Tests   
Episode 2 

[Visit Shax's Virtual Den][1]   
[E-mail the author][2]

CHAPTER ONE: 

"I suggest you send them out at night, sir." said Mecha. "It will catch the villagers off-guard, and show us much more effectively what they can do." Robotnik glared at him. "It is not your place to make suggestions, Mecha." he said. Mecha took a step back. "I just thought it would be better, sir." "You _thought_?" asked Robotnik. "As the only thing in Robotropolis with an actual authentic BRAIN, I think that _my_ suggestions should be worth more than yours." Vlad the Bat poked his head around the corner. "HEY!" Robotnik looked at him. "Oh, I apologise, I forgot." he said. "Snively has a brain, also." He grinned, and Vlad frowned. "Hey, you're not exactly what Who Magazine regards as the perfect employer!" he said. He stepped back. "Then again, most of the high rating employers offer some sort of wage." Robotnik motioned for the bat to come closer. "While you're here, I need you to do a job. You and Mecha are to supervise the droids on their first run. Mecha protested immediately. "I am capable of doing the mission alone." he said. Vlad frowned at him. "EEEEW!" he said. "I have to work with that bucket of bolts? No way! Uh uh!" Robotnik banged his fist on the arm of his throne. "YOU WILL DO AS I SAY!" he yelled. Vlad sighed. "Yes, mister Robotnik." he said, sounding like a school child. "You leave at noon." said Robotnik. The two walked out of the room, and Robotnik sat back down. The small robot that stood next to him looked up at him, wordlessly. Robotnik sighed. "Yes, Genesis." he said. "Those two are hard to control. But if what Packbell assures me is correct, your bretheren are much more obediant. And powerful." Genesis turned and looked ahead again. Like all the other E-100 series robots, Genesis had no speech capabilities. Packbell was currently working on an upgrade, making them even more powerful than Axel's original design. But for now, Robotnik was simply testing them. Putting them on trial. Except for Genesis, the original, who remained beside Robotnik's throne. 

Sonic walked into Knothole, sadly. Sally came out to greet him. "How are Robbie and the others?" she asked. Sonic looked up at her, glumly. "I dunno, Sal." he said. "Why not?" asked Sally. "Couldn't you find Nutwood?" "Oh, I found it, alright!" replied Sonic. "Or what's left of it." "What do you mean?" asked Sally. Sonic looked down again, and decided to blurt it all out. "Sal, Nutwood has been burned down. The whole village, just burned to a crisp. Char grilled. I didn't find any body remains, so the villagers must have escaped. I couldn't find them, though. Not one." Sally looked at him as if she couldn't breathe. "Oh NO!" she said. "Nutwood was the most powerful Freedom Fighter village apart from Knothole!" Sonic nodded. "And another thing..." he began. He toned down his voice, as if frightened that someone else would hear. "The Chaos Isle map has been destroyed." Sally gasped. "You were planning to take another trip this summer! So Sagittarius could see his family! We needed that map!" Sonic nodded again. "There is another one." he said. "In Robotropolis." Sally shook her head, sadly. "Forest fire?" she asked. "Looks like arson." Sonic corrected. "The forest around the village is completely unscathed. The only signs of fire are in the village itself." Sally sighed. "I probably should send out a search party to look for any victims that may be lost in the forest." Sonic nooded. "I'll gather some villagers up." 

Mecha Sonic marched foward. Beside him was Vlad, trudging along, and occasionally yawning. "Are we there yet?" he asked. Mecha didn't respond. "How far away can a dumb village be?" Vlad asked. Again no response. Vlad approached Mecha, and tapped his knuckles on the robot's hard metal skull. "HELLO?" he shouted. "Hmm... they left the lights on when they left." Mecha turned to him. "The reason you are complaining is because you are a pathetic organism. Robots have one-hundred percent patience, and can walk forever if they have to." Vlad frowned. "Well, please excuse me for LIVING!" he said. "It isn't MY fault that I was BORN instead of CREATED!" "Robots are superior in every way to living creatures." Mecha said. "They correct Nature's mistakes." Vlad grinned. "If you hate life forms so much, how come you are so loyal to IVO?" Mecha spun around. "I only obey Robotnik because the way I am programmed prevents me from hating him, along with all other organisms." "AH! YOU SEE! Robots DO have bad points!" Vlad said, happy that he was winning the argument. "No free will! You like who you are told to like, and hate who you are told to hate!" Mecha stopped marching. "Nobody told me yo hate YOU, and yet I do so much." Vlad backed off. "HEY!" he said. "No fair dragging ME into this!" The two marched on, followed by an army of robots, who destroyed the forest as they passed through it. More powerful than the SWAT bots - the first army of E-100 droids. 

The rescue party from Knothole returned after a while. They didn't find anyone lost in the forest, and no casualties in the burned village, which was a good sign - it meant that all the residents of Nutwood escaped alive, and together. There was, however, one quite distressed creature who was found just outside the forest. Sonic looked up at Rotor. "You found someone?" he asked. "One." replied Rotor. "A little black guy, kinda looks like a lizard. Calls himself 'Drake'." Sonic walked out of the hut, and found the rest of the villagers who had returned from the site. There was a strange little black creature with them, who had attracted the attention of Tails. The two were chatting away, giggling. It certainly was a strange looking creature. It was short, about up to Sonic's knee. It was very skinny, and pitch black all over, with bony sticking-out bits down its back. It looked very much like a burned twig. Sonic smiled and approached the two. "Hey, Sonic!" shouted Tails. "This is Sonic!" he told the lizard, excitedly. The reptile produced an ear-to-ear grin. "Hi there!" he said. Sonic neiled down, so he could talk face to face with the stranger. "So, you're Drake, huh?" he asked. Drake nodded. "YEP! That's me! This place is neat!" Sonic giggled a little. Drake's voice was quick and chattery. "Did you live in Nutwood?" Sonic asked. Drake suddenly became a little shy, and not as excited. "Um... no" he replied. "Uh... I was, uh, a guest at the time." Sonic nodded. "You must have been awfully frightened." he said. He decided to change the subject. "So... what species are you?" he asked. Drake grinned, and propped himself up proudly. "I'm a dragon!" he announced. Sonic giggled. "Dragon? Well, let's see you blow fire!" Drake blushed. "I... I can't." he admitted. "I'm not sure how to control it." Tails spoke up. "Wanna see my room?" he asked. Drake brightened up. "NEATO!" The two walked off, and Sally approached Sonic. "That's the refugee from Nutwood?" she asked. Sonic nodded. "And he didn't even live there. Looks like everything's okay!" He was right about one thing - all was well with Nutwood. But all was not well with Knothole. Things were about to go bad - and keep getting worse. 

"Ha! This is it!" shouted Vlad. He began to do a little dance. "I remember where Knothole is! I remember where Knothole is! You don't! You don't!" Mecha Sonic grabbed the bat, and put him in a headlock. "Shut up." he growled. "If we are silent, we shall have the benefit of the element of surprise. If we are to show the effectiveness of the E-100's, we need all the elements on our side." Vlad frowned. "Ack... you're choking me!" he winced. "Good." replied Mecha. He stared through the trees at the village beyond. After a while, he lifted his gun, and shot it into the air. The signal for 'attack'. 

CHAPTER TWO: 

Sonic turned. He heard a gunshot in the bushes. He looked, and saw Mecha Sonic standing there, surrounded by robots. Sally noticed, too. Without a second thought, she immediately screamed "ATTACK! BATTLESTATIONS!" and every villager equally quickly rushed for weapons and ran screaming towards the invaders. Sonic was startled, at first. After all, Mecha's allies were not SWAT bots. They were short, stumpy robots. Their right arms all had laser rifles on the ends, and they had two small round green lights each, used as eyes on their flat featureless orange and black heads. What were they? Sonic looked closely at one of them. It had something written on it's chest. Some sort of serial number. 'E-100'. "E-100?" Sonic asked himself over and over. Didn't sound at all familiar. But he was shocked again, when he heard a noise from the tree beside him. Someone shouting "COWABUNGA!" He looked up, and saw a strange creature zip out of the tree, glide down, and dive-bomb Sally! The attack knocked her over, but she picked herself up, and tried to swipe at the creature. But it disappeared just as quickly as it had appeared. Sonic was dumfounded! It looked like a large bat. It's voice was also familiar, kind of high pitched and squauky. Something very strange was going on in Robotropolis, but there was no time to figure things out now. Because, another thing he noticed, was that the 'E-100' robots were wooping Knothole's butt. He saw the attacking robots gradually get closer to the heart of the village, and the defending villagers being pushed back, as more and more were being injured, and assisting the injured. Another strange thing was that Mecha wasn't part of the attack. He was more or less standing there, leaning on a tree, occasionally shouting orders at the robots. Sonic rushed down and helped Knothole in the small war... 

The robots were good, but not entirely victorious. They had managed to destroy more than a quarter of Knothole before they were stopped. There were three E-100s left - Mecha and the strange bat had apparently fled. Sally ran up to them, weapon raised high, but before she could get to them, a figure stepped out in front of her. Drake! "Go away, you dumb robots, or feel my wrath!" he yelled. "DRAKE! GO AWAY!" screamed Sally. Drake didn't budge. Instead, he opened his mouth, took a deep breath, and.... blew. A slight breeze touched the robots' chests. They did not look impressed. "WHY CAN'T I GET IT RIGHT?" Drake demanded himself. All three robots pointed their laser rifles at him. He gulped. Suddenly, everybody nearby dived at the little lizard. They dumped him away from the gunfire. Too late. One of the robots shot a laser beam, and used Rotor the walrus as its target. 

Drake sat in a small hut, Sally pacing in front of him. A villager poked her head in. Sally turned to her. "How's Rotor?" she asked. "Intensive care." replied the villager. "It'll take a while." Sally sat and sighed. "Drake... you... shouldn't take risks." she said. "I'm sorry." replied Drake, weakly. "It's not that we don't appreciate your help..." Sally continued. "But we also don't want to have you hurt. Do you know how devistated I would be if you had been killed out there?" Drake looked at her sadly. "I'm so sorry... please don't make me apologise..." Sally sighed. "Drake, just what did you think you could possibly do out there?" "I'm sorry, I'm so stupid! I should have known better! I'm sooo sorry!" He began to look agitated, and seemed to be getting muscle spasms. "From now on, you leave the fighting to us!" Sally said. A tear formed in Drake's eye. "I'M SORRY!" he wailed. He clasped the ground, and started to take sharp, violent breaths. He looked like he was really having problems breathing. "What's wrong?" Sally asked. Drake began flinching, and breathing deeper. Sally sensed it was because he was upset. She attempted to calm him down. "I'm not angry at you, Drake." she said. "I just want you to promise that you'll never do that again." She touched him gingerly on the back of the neck. He seemed to calm down, and regained his composure. "I promise." he replied, wiping his forehead. "Just as long as you're not angry." Just as he began to smile again, somebody burst through the doorway. Petals the porcupine. And boy, was she PO'ed. "YOU STUPID LITTLE THING!" she screamed. "YOU HAVE RUINED EVERYTHING!! SOMEONE IS IN HOSPITAL BECAUSE THEY TRIED TO SAVE YOUR SORRY BACKSIDE! HOW COULD YOU BE THAT STUPID!?!" She cut it short when she realised something was wrong with Drake. He suddenly found himself gasping desparately for air, rolling around on the ground. Stumbling around, he made it towards the door, and dropped outside. He began to crawl towards the bushes. He seemed to be trying to get out of the village! Sally ran after him and grabbed onto him. "What's wrong?" she asked. "What can I do?" Drake stood straight up, opened his mouth, and began to inhale. His stomach and chest began to swell and stretch. He quite literally looked like a balloon being blown up. He looked like he was about to bursting point. Then he stopped, trying to keep it in. Holding his breath. It was futile, though. After a few seconds, his mouth opened, and let it all out. But something was wrong. Instead of air, a 20-by-20 metre fireball burst out of his mouth, and smacked into a hut, obliterating it in a fury of flames. 

CHAPTER THREE: 

Villagers rushed out of the hut, some of them had their clothes on fire. Sally turned to Drake, eyes ablaze with horror. "Drake... what have you DONE?" she demanded. Drake fell backwards. "I...I can't help it!! It just... happens! I'm so sorry!" Some villagers attempted to put the fire out, while others rushed over to find the source. Villagers began shouting at Drake, and he began breathing deeply again. Sally put her arms up and screamed "STOP!!!" The villagers, obeying their leader, fell silent. Sally turned to Drake. "It isn't really your fault, is it." she said. Drake gulped, and shook his little head rapidly. "When does it happen, Drake?" she asked. "Does it happen when you apologise?" Drake sighed. "When I feel guilty." he admitted. "First, I start to feel really guilty and apologetic about stuff, you know, the usual feeling, you get a feeling in the pit of your stomach. But then, if I get even more guilty, I start having trouble breathing. Then, I get a scorching feeling on the back of my throat, and -voila!- instant flame thrower." Sally shook her head. "Sorry." Drake added. 

Mecha Sonic and Vlad walked into Robotnik's office. "Operation a complete success." Mecha said. Vlad giggled. "Yeah, we really kicked some a**!" Mecha extended an arm, and whacked the bat over the head, silencing him. Robotnik grinned. "Excellent." he smirked. "Blame this success on Axel! Too bad he vanished off the face of Mobius. We could really have used him." Mecha flinched a little. "That would mean another living creature recruited into your army, sire." he said. "Don't tell me you are turning to biological life forms to do your work..." "SILENCE!" shouted Robotnik. "You dare to tell me what I can and can't do? Besides.. Axel is dead. It cannot be undone." Robotnik turned around, and grinned. "Now... Knothole is severely disadvantaged. When the robots are powered up, we shall launch a full-scale attack. Make sure their computer systems are in one piece, though." "Why?" asked Vlad. "I am going to attempt once again what Ro.Se. couldn't do - find out about their computer systems. I have to see how they hack into the Robotropolis Mainframe, and protect the computers against such interferance. In short, I've taken enough crap from the Freedom Fighters. The time has come to expand, and that is exactly what I am going to do. Find the most vulnerable city, and take it over, just like I did to Mobitropolis. I have a few ideas in mind..." "I'm sure your ideas are purely brilliant, sire." said Mecha. "Of course." replied Robotnik. "I have been plotting for a while, now. The E-100s are only the beginning. Next, I will be working out ways to overthrow the Freedom Fighters, and claim another city, and another, and another. For when I hold this power fast, nobody will dare oppose me. Mobius will be mine." This was followed by a rather discomforting laugh, that made even Mecha sound nice. 

Sonic looked around nervously. "So he burns stuff when he says sorry?" he asked. "That's just about the size of it." replied Sally. "The only way we can stop him from burning things down is to, well, let him do anything he wants, until he leaves of his own accord." Sonic frowned. "Why don't we just tell him to get lost?" Sally sighed. "I've thought about it." she said. "He's pretty sensitive. If we try to explain to him that we can't have him here, he'll start apologising, and burn the village down. The same if we start criticising him about anything." Sonic sat down. "It's a bad situation, isn't it." he said. Sally just nodded. "Robotnik destroyed a third of Knothole this morning. Two thirds of the remaining was destroyed by Drake this evening. Heck, dragon fire is like nothing I've ever seen! It just keeps spreading and spreading. Nutwood is gone, Knothole may soon follow. Robotnik's resistance is decreasing." Sonic looked at her, in pity. "Robotnik will not win, Sal." he assured her. "As long as my name is Sonic the Hedgehog, Robotnik will never expand beyond Robotropolis. 

It took all afternoon to calm Drake down, and put the fire out. Sally had privately told everybody in the village to be extra nice to the miniture dragon. Drake sat down, watching the sunset, wondering where everybody was. "That's funny..." he mumbled to himself. He saw a short squirrel rushing hurriedly across the village. "HI!" Drake shouted out. The squirrel apparently didn't hear him. He rushed over, trying to catch up. "Hi!" he repeated. "What's your name?" The squrrel stopped and turned nervously. A broad, fake-looking smile across his face. "Michael, sir!" he replied. "Michael Squirrel, sir!" Drake grinned at him. "Aaw, you don't have to call me 'sir'! Just call me Drake!" "YES SIR!" Michael almost shouted. Drake, thinking this conversation was a little too weird, backed off. The squrrel ran on his way. Drake turned, and saw an agitated looking wolf. "HI!" Drake said. The wolf let out a loud squeak, and bolted. Drake frowned. "This village is weird!" he said, out loud. He walked around, looking for someone to talk to. He saw Tails, and grinned. "HI TAILS!" he yelled. Tails looked back, and smiled too. "Hi Drake!" Drake looked around. "Why is everyone so edgy here?" he asked. Tails shrugged. "They're just trying to stay outta your way." "Why?" Drake asked. "Because..." Tails replied "Sally wants everyone to be real nice to you, so you don't burn stuff down." Drake frowned. "BUT IT'S NOT MY FAULT!" he yelled. Then he sat down. "Or maybe it is." he added. "Everything's always my fault. I'm blamed for everything... I'm so sorry! I wish I could help it.. nobody likes me! I'm so, so sorry!" A tear formed in his eye, and he began to take short, raspy breaths. "_I_ like you!" Tails assured him. "Why?" Drake asked. "I burned down half your village!" He started to gasp. "You've got a great personality!" replied Tails. "What does that -gasp- matter?" asked Drake. "I'm so -gasp- dangerous! -gasp- What's a -gasp- personality, when you -gasp- can't go near it?" Tails backed off. "Drake... you're not gonna do it again, are you?" "SEE WHAT -gasp I MEAN!?" shouted Drake. "EVERY TIME -gasp- SOMEONE -gasp- TRIES TO -gasp- TALK TO ME, I -gasp- COMBUST! -gasp-" 

"You'll be fine." said Sally. "You're recovering very quickly." Rotor looked at her, weakly, and nodded, smiling. He was still in bed, but had been recovering quickly ever since he had been shot earlier that day. Sally smiled, knowing that everything would be okay. That's when she heard the blast. It sounded like an aeroplane had crashed into the roof! She began to run outside, but a large plank of wood fell over the doorway. It was on fire. The temperature of the hospital began to rise, and cracking sounds could be heard on the roof. Frantically Sally looked for another doorway. She saw a closed door, with flames lashing out from underneath. She was trapped! The fire began to creep inside, through the open door. "What's happening?" Rotor rasped. Sally didn't reply. She looked for any windows... most of them were blocked by thick flames. Besides, she couldn't get Rotor out a window, while he was in bed. She ran to the open door, despite the heat, and screamed for help. 

CHAPTER FOUR: 

"SONIC! SONIC!" Tails shouted. Sonic stood up, and walked to the doorway. Tails stood there, shouting frantically. "Tails.. slow down!" Sonic said. Tails, too frantic to speak properly, just pointed. Sonic followed his gaze, and saw the hospital. It was completely red. Sonic, confused, looked closer. It was on fire! The flames were blood red, and completely engulfed every last inch of the walls. He found himself running full-speed at the burning building. There were a few helpless villagers standing by. "Is anyone inside?" he asked. "Sally!" one of the villagers whimpered. "And Rotor is still in bed!" Sonic rushed to the door, but searing heat and flames blocked his path. It had to be dragon fire. It seemed that dragon fire was about ten times hotter and quicker than ordinary fire. There wasn't much time. He looked around - both entrances were blocked by wood and fire, but there was a very black and burned section of the wall that had been left alone by the fire - the result of a previous forest fire. "Maybe.. just maybe.." Sonic thought, rearing back. He ran at top speed, and launched into a flying spindash. There was a blast as Sonic burred through the weak wood. The impact shocked him a little, but didn't stop him. The first thing he noticed was the smoke. The enclosure had become a smokehouse. He couldn't see very far, the smoke was thick and black, and it burned his eyes. He dropped to the ground and crawled. The smoke was thinner near the ground, he could see better. He could just make out the bottom of Rotor's bed, and another unconcious figure on the ground. After a quick think, Sonic decided that Rotor was presently in greater danger. He grabbed the bottom of the bed, (lucky it had wheels) and wheeled it towards the hole. The bed broke more wood away, making the hole bigger. When the bed was outside, Sonic saw that Rotor was unconcious, but breathing. "KEEP AN EYE ON HIM!" he shouted to the others, as he braced himself, and re-entered the burning building. He felt around, and eventually found Sally's leg. He felt around for the rest of her body, but he let go when something slammed into him from behind. A pile of burning lumber, once part of the roof, now pinned him to the ground. He struggled to get out, but to no prevail. He tried to spindash, but there was no room. He could feel the heat from the fire spreading throughout the wood, and he knew that it would soon spread to his flesh. They say that being burned to death is one of the most painful ways to die... 

"S...Sonic?" came a weak voice. "Sal?" came the reply. Sally's body began to move slowly. She began to cough hoarsely. "Sal, can you move this wood?" Sonic asked. Sally weakly inspected the situation. "I'm not -cough- sure." she replied. She grabbed on to a piece of the wood, and tugged, but it didn't move. "You're not strong enough." Sonic said "There is a hole in the wall to your left.. go, get help." Sally agreed, and crawled over to the hole. Sonic tried once again to free himself, but it didn't work. There was an excrusiating pain on his shin, like being stabbed over and over. He clenched his teeth, and closed his eyes. 

Suddenly, several villagers with water buckets came in. They poured water all over him, and began to lift the timber off him. The smoke was really beginning to get to him... the villagers' voices seemed so distant, now. He felt so tired, all his pain faded away. He could just feel the sensation of being dragged, but that is when everything went black. 

"How are they?" Sally asked. Bunnie stood there with the report. "Well, Rotah's having some kind uh' relapse, and he's still unconcious, ahn lil' ol' Sonic's in a weak coma, and he's bein' treated for third degree burns all down his leg!" Sally nodded, one hand on her forehead. "They'll both be alright, won't they?" Bunnie nodded. "But they'd be ok a lot sooner if we had a hospital tuh' work in." Sally sighed. "At least we put the fire out." she said. "But now almost all of the village has been destroyed. All that's left are a few huts and the computer mainframe." Bunnie left the hut, leaving Sally alone, thinking. Then she too left the hut, and shouted for the villagers' attention. "I've come to a decision" she announced. "I need someone willing, who can do a job for me." Most of the villagers immediately put up their hands, excitedly. Sally lowered her voice a little. "It involves.. working with Drake." All the hands went down, and villagers began to back away. "Just what I thought." Sally murmured to herself. "I need someone brave.. someone who won't cower away from that little guy." She lifted her head, and noticed someone coming towards her... Knuckles. "Hey.. what's happening?" he asked. Sally simply grinned. 

"Are you paying attention?" Drake looked up at the echidna. "Sorry" he said. Knuckles frowned. "Drake.. I think I know your problem." he said. "You're too apologetic! You think that everything is your fault!" Drake half-smiled. "Yeah.. I'm funny that way.. sorry." Knuckles slapped his forehead. "You did it again! You said sorry again!" "Sorry!" "This will be harder than I thought." Knux thought to himself. Sally had put him in charge of teaching Drake to bee less guilty, and therefore, less dangerous. He thought of how to assess the situation. "Drake, I don't want you to say sorry to anything for a whole day." he said. "Maybe that will teach you.." "Ok." Drake replied, tapping his claw on the table. "That tapping is a little annoying, y'know." Knux said, seeing what Drake would say. The dragon opened his mouth, then stopped to think. Finally, he made a satisfied grin, and said "Excuse me." Knux felt like screaming. "I don't mean to find _substitutes_ for the word 'sorry', I meant just not to apologise at all!" "Sorry!... oop.." said Drake. "This is going to take a while." Knuckles sighed. "Would you mind closing that door? I'm a little chilly." Drake hopped over to the door, and began to close it. But, just before it closed, Sally appeared. "Hey, how's it going?" she asked, just before the door slammed, trapping her foot between the door and the ground. Drake let out a squeal, and opened the door again. Sally began to hop around on one leg, holding her other foot in pain. Drake wailed loudly. "I CAN'T DO ANYTHING RIGHT!!!" he screamed. Sally tried to calm him down. "I'm all right!" she insisted. "Really!" Drake ignored her. "YOU MUST -gasp- HATE ME!! -gasp- JUST LOOK AT -gasp- WHAT I'VE -gasp- DONE -gasp- TO YOUR -gasp- VILLAGE!!" Sally just grabbed Knuckles' arm, and pulled him away from the hut. When they were about four metres from it, the hut literally exploded, throwing debris everywhere. A giant mushroom cloud came out from the top of the shattered building, and a small figure could be seen running the other way. "I'M LEAVING!" it shouted. "AND I'M NOT COMING BACK! I'M SORRY FOR BEING SUCH A BURDON!" Knux looked at Sally. "Don't look at me!" he said "I _tried_! He just has such an explosive personality!" 

CHAPTER FIVE: 

"FOWARD MARCH!" shouted Mecha. "We are almost apon them!" Vlad giggled. "I just wanna see their faces!" he said. "They're just gonna _die_!" Then he thought a little, and added "Literally!" "SHUT UP!" warned Mecha. "This time, the fight will be won!" The two approached Knothole, followed by at least twice the number of E-100 droids as before... "We don't have to do this!" said Vlad, looking at the charred wood all over the forest floor. "They're already gone! There must have been a forest fire through here!" Mecha pointed further ahead. "No, look." he said. "There are still a few huts unscathed. Including the target." Vlad grinned "GOOD!" he shouted "I'm hungry!" "You know the plan." Mecha said. "You and the E-100s create a diversion, while I work on the computer. "Roger!" Vlad replied. Mecha walked off, leaving the bat alone with the robots. Vlad stood there for a while, staring at the robots. They stared back. Vlad scratched the back of his neck, and the robots did exactly the same. Surprised, Vlad twirled around several times. The robots began to twirl, some bumping against each other, some falling over. Vlad giggled, and shouted "Now.. ATTACK!" With a frenzy of mechanics, the robots charged towards the village. 

Sally stared in horror, the robots charging at top speed towards them. The villagers stood defensively outside Knothole, but they were outnumbered heavily. "WE CAN'T DEFEAT ALL OF THEM!!!" Sally screamed. "ROBOTNIK, YOU MONGREL!" The villagers ran over towards the robots, screaming battle cries. They fell like flies. Knuckles ran out to attack, punching like red fury, knocking over robots. Most of them simply got back up again, and fired at him. "These things are too strong!" he shouted. "We're gonna have to re-configure our whole way of fighting, just to accomodate!" 

Mecha Sonic sat down, and plugged himself into the Knothole main computer. He began mentally hacking into it, using a process of elimination to work out the password. He worked incredibly fast, typing one password per millisecond. 

"0000000" "Access Denied" "0000001" "Access Denied" "0000002" "Access Denied" "0000003" "Access Denied" 

Suddenly, Knuckles came face to face with a stranger.. a bat. "Hello echidna!" the bat screeched, licking his two sharp fangs. "I'm kinda hungry.. Can I just.. have a bite?" He spread his wings and bared his fangs. "I VAN TO SUCK YOUR BLOOD, BLAH!" "Who are you, and what do you want?" Knux demanded. "I'm being a diversion!" he announced, proudly. "I'm getting all you jerks to pay attention to me, while my compodre hacks your computers!" Then he paused for a second. "No, wait.. I'm not supposed to tell you that.. forget everything I just told you." Knuckles pushed him out of the way, and looked into the computer hut. Mecha Sonic sat inside. 

"0276494" "Access Denied" "0276495" "Access Denied" "0276496" "Access Denied" "0276497" "Access Denied" 

Knuckles ran towards the hut, but was blocked by a troupe of E-100s. He had to fight them. He could see a hut burst into flames behind him. He hoped it wasn't the hut where Sonic and Rotor were being cared for. Knothole was losing. Horribly. 

"5375837" "Access Denied" "5375838" "Access Denied" "5375839" "Access Denied" "5375840" "Access Denied" 

Knuckles shouted out "SALLY! I COULD USE SOME HELP OVER HERE! MECHA'S IN THE COMPUTER ROOM, AND I'VE GOT MY HANDS FULL!" Sally ran over, but was also blocked by countless robot invaders. There were way too many for the village to handle. 

"9684361" "Access Denied" "9684362" "Access Denied" "9684363" "Access Denied" 

"9684364" "Access Granted" 

Suddenly, there was a great noise behind the village. It sounded like somone yelling at the top of their lungs. Then, a figure stepped out of the shadows. Drake. "YOU ROBOTS SHOULD STOP PICKING ON PEOPLE YOUR OWN SIZE, AND START PICKING ON ME!" he shouted. Many of the robots stopped and turned to him. "DRAKE... NO!!!" Sally screamed. Drake stood, tense. Several robots raised their laser rifles, and aimed at him. He began to breath deeply, so deeply that he appeared to inflate like a ballon. "Drake!" Sally shouted again "REMEMBER WHAT HAPPENED LAST TIME!! JUST GET OUTTA THERE!!" Drake held his breath, his stomach now the size of a beach ball, and looked at the robots, grinning. Then he let it out, along with a huge stream of fire. The fire engulfed the robots - threw them back with such force that they shattered apon contact with the trees. The roaring fire continued to pour out of the little dragon's mouth, destroying robot apon robot. Vlad began running around in circles, his head on fire. "AAAH MY HAIR!" he screamed. He plunged into a puddle and rolled around. Drake drew another breath, and finished off the remaining robots. After a while, there was no more movement. Sally ran up to Drake and threw her arms around him. "I thought you couldn't control your fire!" she said. "Can now!" Drake replied. "Thanks to you! You tried to teach me to be less guilty 'bout stuff... I was thinking about it in the forest, and I started to feel angry.. but then I started blaming other people about things, instead of myself, and I got a whole heap of self confidence! And as my confidence grew, so did my flame ability!" he explained. "Now I'm a _REAL_ dragon!" Suddenly, Sally's eyes widened. "MECHA!" she yelled. She ran towards the computers, just as there was an explosion, and Mecha rocketed through the roof. "Thank you for your secrets!" the robot hissed. "Robotropolis shall no longer be hacked! It is the first step in destroying you forever.. and the only way you can stop it is to destroy me right here and now! And I doubt any of you have that ability." With that, he flew away into the distance. Sally burst into the hut, and saw that the computers were completely destroyed. Mecha had taken special precautions to make sure that every single piece of computer machinery, from CPUs to speakers, were shattered beyond repair. 

"OH NO!" Sally screamed. "That's our only link to Robotropolis! And with our secrets, Robotnik can prevent _all_ links to Robotropolis, from _any_ Freedom Fighter village!" Sonic came in, his leg bandaged and using crutches, looking very unhappy. "Sorry, Sal." he said. "I saw the whole thing from the window... I couldn't help." "That's okay." Sally replied. "We still prevailed.. at a cost." "We'll have to re-build the village." Sonic said. "And something tells me that this is only the beginning... that Robotnik has some mighty big plans. It will be a hard fight, but we will prevail in the end. Don't you worry, Sal, we _will_ prevail. 

But that's another story 

SERIES TWO CHRONOLOGY:   
1. The New Girl   
2. Dragon the Chain   
3. Never Say Nemesis   
4. When a Hedgehog Meets a Fox   
5. Just Your Imagination   
6. Shred   
7. The Death Machine   
8. Metal Made Flesh   
9. Power Corrupts   
10. Halfway Across the Galaxy   
11. Two For One   
12. Prologue to an Adventure   
13. Adventure

   [1]: http://www.stas.net/1/shax/Virtualden.html
   [2]: mailto:Shaxr@angelfire.com



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